Seolmundae Halmang
Do you know that there is a big island in the middle of the southern sea?
Blue waves, sweet and sour yellow tangerines.
Yes, it's Jeju Island.
There is a tall mountain in the middle of Jeju Island.
Halla Mountain is said to be high enough to pull the Milky Way.
From now on, I will tell you the story that has been handed down in Jeju Island.
It's the story of Seolmundae Halmang, who appeared on Jeju Island a long time ago.
By the way, Halmang means grandmother in Jeju Island.
It's a long time ago.
A strange sound could be heard on Jeju Island, where blue water was everywhere.
Splash, splash, splash.
Seolmundae Halmang had appeared.
Seolmundae Halmang was huge.
Maybe she reached the sky.
The deep seawater only reached her knee.
What do you think, can you guess how big the Seolmundae Halmang was?
But why did Seolmundae Halmang come to Jeju Island?
Well, her legs hurt a lot because she wandered
around the sea so much.
She had beads of sweat on her wrinkled forehead.
Seolmundae Halmang put her hand on her forehead and looked around.
No matter how much she walked, it was an endless sea of water.
"Phew, is there anywhere to rest? I can only see the sea."
Seolmundae Halmang walked and walked.
"Oh, my legs. I can't walk anymore."
That's when she noticed Jeju Island far away.
"Yes, when I get there, I will be able to take a rest."
Seolmundae Halmang hurried to the island.
But when she looked up close, the island was just flat and there was nowhere to sit.
Seolmundae Halmang went to land and filled the skirt with soil.
Then she poured the soil on the middle of Jeju Island.
This was how the "Halla" mountain was created.
“Ow, I’m tired. I’m going to take a rest.”
Seolmundae Halmang sat on the peak of the mountain.
“Ouch, my butt!”
The sharp peak had poked Seolmundae Halmang’s butt.
“Oh, this won’t work.”
Seolmundae Halmang dug out soil from the mountain's peak with her hands.
So, the mountain peak became just right for her to sit on.
This is how ‘Baeknok’ Lake was formed.
“This would be enough?”
Seolmundae Halmang smiled at last.
But because she worked hard, she felt sleepy.
“Then should I take a nap?”
Seolmundae Halmang used the ‘Halla’ mountain as a pillow and lay down.
She was so tall that her leg reached the ‘Gwantal’ island nearby.
Once, she even stretched her leg and it made a hole in a rock.
If you go to Jeju Beom island, the holes are still there.
People call them ‘nostril rocks’.
“Ahh, I slept well.”
When she woke up, her skirt was muddy because of the work she did.
“Oh my, My skirt got so dirty.
This is the only one I got.”
Seolmundae Halmang rolled up her sleeves and sat on ‘Halla’ mountain.
She put one foot on ‘Swae’ island and the other on ‘Beom’ island.
Then she used ‘Woo’ island as a washboard and rubbed her skirt.
Whee whee.
Jeju island has strong winds.
She couldn’t live in a cold, windy place with a holed skirt.
Anyway, you can’t live with one piece of clothing.
“Oh, the wind is quite strong and cold.”
Seolmundae Halmang thought, shivering.
‘It would be much warmer with silk clothes.’
“What should I do?”
Seolmundae Halmang wondered.
Finally, she got a good idea.
“Yes, I should do this!”
Seolmundae gathered Jeju island’s people.
At some point, people from the land had moved to Jeju island.
Seolmundae Halmang’s voice echoed across the island.
“Please make a piece of clothing that I can wear
Then I will make a bridge that leads to the land.”
Actually, it was easy for Seolmundae Halmang to build a bridge.
The people of Jeju island were so happy that they shouted.
“Wow, it would be great to have a bridge leading to the land.”
“We promise you to make you a warm silk clothing.”
The people promised to Seolmundae Halmang and scattered.
But Seolmundae Halmag was incredibly big.
People gathered and talked.
“We need at least 100 rolls of silk to make Seolmundae Halmang’s clothing.”
“It is an incredible amount.”
Women sat on the loom and weaved silk.
The men gathered silk.
Seolmundae Halmang felt happy looking at this.
“I would get a warm silk clothing.”
But they had a problem.
“Oh my god, oh my god. We don’t have enough silk!”
They had gathered silk from all the silkworms on the island,
but they had only 99 silk rolls.
The people of Jeju island couldn’t finish the clothing
because they didn’t have enough silk.
Seolmundae Halmang was disappointed.
“I had high expectations…”
Seollmundae Halmang threw the rock she was building the bridge and disappeared.
From then, no one saw Seolmundae Halmang.
What happened to the bridge that Seolmundae Halmang was trying to build?
In the sea of Jeju, there are rock islands called ‘Ongjangme’. People say these are
the traces of the bridge.
Oh, there are other stories about Seolmundae Halmang.
Actually, Seolmundae Halmang and Seolmundae Harbang were a couple.
Seolmundae Harbang was also a giant like Seolmundae Halmang.
He was even bigger than ‘Hala’ mountain, so they must have been a good pair.
Seolmundae Halmang and Seolmundae Harbang lived on the seaside catching fish.
They had 500 sons and maybe they are the ‘500 Jangun Orum’in Halla mountain?
The ‘500 Jangun Orum’ are 500 rocks that look like humans.
On Jeju island, there is a big rock that Seolmundae Halmang used as a pot hanger.
Maybe she would have boiled porridge for her 500 sons.
If you go to Jeju Island could you meet Seolmundae Halmang?
Who knows?
She might appear again on Jeju island.
On Jeju island, every mountain and rock was handmade.
Seolmundae Halmang made it with her own hands.
So still now, Jeju island’s people think of Seolmundae Halmang.
